Jennie's Threads

May has been quite the month! It's my final month of maternity leave and has been dominated with chicken pox... Mia got her first spot on 9th May and by the end of the month both Jessica and Joshua were covered in spots... But at least it's over and done with before I go back to work... My highlight of the month was ticking a box on my bucket list: two years ago we visited Belsay Castle and viewed the quilt show held by the Quilters Guild local region. At the time, I was just finishing off my 365 Quilt Challenge and said how much I would love to see it hanging at the next display at Belsay. The show happens every two years, and was on over the bank holiday weekend. Here is my quilt hanging in the Library! Despite the chicken pox, I have been sewing! I finished my Trinket Quilt: A pincushion : And a cushion : I finally framed the Moon Moth embroidery I was working on 6 weeks ago: And finished off the set of zipper pouches I'd been working on ...

I am absolutely loving this year's Block of the Month from Sarah Fielke. There's so much variety of techniques, the instruction are so good and it's a wonderful challenge every month. I'm even enjoying the applique, which is just well because I think next month will be all about the applique! And because I'm enjoying it so much, I am 100% up to date! This is the status at the end of month four. The tulip appliqued corners were last month, which I failed to blog about. I found the inny corners tricky and I may have to go back and embroider some strategically placed ladybirds... I made all the houses in the outer border this month using a mix of rotary cutting and foundation piecing, with appliques doors and windows. This quilt will be for Mum and Dad when it's finished and I find myself taking Mum's taste into account far more than Dad's. He's a musician so I was pleased to get the red musical notation print in (it's an old Basic Grey print...

March seems to have been a really long month! But in a good way! I've got loads of sewing done, Josh has grown loads - he's ten weeks old now - and we've been away together for a weekend to the Lake District. Here's what I've been working on: I've had some finishes: Awesome Ocean And Ice Cream soda And a cushion for Jess . There's also been a couple of other finishes that just aren't quite ready to share yet... I received my Tula Pink Pinkerville fabrics and cut them all up to start my Meadowland quilt. I've been taking part in the Trinket SAL I've made some progress on my Down the Rabbit Hole quilt - I've put together the bits I'd already completed and spent quite a few hours preparing the hand applique on the next border. I made ten blocks into four items in a little self-imposed challenge. I kept up to date with the Shark's Dinner BOM and the Coming Home BOM and started the Geo Diamonds BO...

Well I'm still on track and I've completed month 2 of Sarah Fielke's Coming Home quilt . This month was the star points and the appliqued star in a circle. I broke out the applique paper again and thoroughly enjoyed the applique process. I'm also really pleased with how neat it looks. And all that practice will hopefully pay off next month as it's going to be all about the applique when we fill in those corners!

Back in 2017, I signed up for Sarah Fielke's block of the month , Down the Rabbit Hole . Inevitably I lost momentum, not least because of the shear volume of neeedleturn applique - I was still working on the second month in October. But that hasn't stopped me signing up for this year's Block of the Month, Coming Home. Mum has been making not-so-subtle hints about wanting a quilt for a while, and she liked this one. It's pretty important with this block of the month, that I keep up to date with it throughout the year. That may become harder as we go along, but for now, I have achieved that with month 1. When picking the fabrics, we actually started with the background. Mum loves fabric that have "light" to them, and when I saw this Grunge by Moda fabric, I knew it was perfect. Luckily Mum agreed. And then I proposed my standard rainbow and Mum (and Dad - he got a small say in events) approved it!  I am aware that this quilt will also have a fair amount...